“Ukraine and Russia together have lost over a million people, dead or injured, as a result of the war initiated by Vladimir Putin. Many Ukrainian cities and villages have been wiped off the face of the earth due to Russian bombardments. Approximately 20,000 children were practically kidnapped and deported to Russia. However, besides all the human losses and material destruction, Ukraine has also suffered a colossal ecological damage.
The Ukrainian authorities carefully document the evidence of a new type of war crime, known as ecocide (the destruction of ecosystems, mass extermination of flora or fauna, pollution of the atmosphere or water). According to The New York Times, the total damage to the country’s natural resources is estimated by Ukraine at over 85 billion dollars.Currently, there are 247 investigations underway into the ecological crimes committed by Russia during the war. “No one has ever done anything like this before,” said Maksim Popov, special advisor for ecological crimes at the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine. Due to the specific nature of the destruction – such as the mass extermination of flora and fauna – prosecutors have classified 14 of these 247 cases as ecocide, according to the Ukrainian Criminal Code.Although in some countries ecocide is considered a crime, internationally it is not yet recognized as an offense. In 2021, a team of lawyers provided a formal definition of the term and proposed the inclusion of ecocide on the list of crimes that can be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court, alongside the existing four.Details, HERE“